Losing Fat While Building Muscle Is A Myth?

Summary

Dr. Mike Israetel from Renaissance Periodization debunks the myth that you can easily gain muscle and lose fat simultaneously. While this is possible under certain conditions—like being a beginner, returning from a long layoff, or using special supplements—it’s typically slower and less effective. Israetel advocates for distinct muscle gain and fat loss phases, as they provide better, more noticeable results. Recomping (gaining muscle while losing fat) works in specific situations but isn’t as effective as intentional bulking or cutting for most individuals, especially advanced athletes.

Takeaways

• 💪 The claim that you can readily gain muscle and lose fat at the same time is only true in specific circumstances, but it's more incorrect than correct for most people.
• ❌ You cannot gain large amounts of muscle without gaining any fat at the same time; this idea is mostly false.
• 🔄 The idea that you don't need distinct muscle gain and fat loss phases is flawed. Phasic processes are crucial for optimal results in gaining muscle and losing fat.
• 📈 Recomping (gaining muscle and losing fat simultaneously) has severe limitations and isn't a reliable long-term strategy for most people, especially advanced athletes.
• 🧑‍🏫 Beginners or people returning to training after a long layoff can experience notable recomping results, but these results slow down significantly over time.
• 🚫 For advanced athletes, recomping leads to 'technical gains' that are detectable in studies but not visibly significant in real life.
• ⚖️ The best results come from phasic approaches—distinct muscle-gaining (hypercaloric) and fat-losing (caloric deficit) phases—rather than trying to do both simultaneously.
• ❗ Maintenance level intake for a beginner works well for the first 6-12 months but eventually stops yielding notable results. At this point, intentional massing or cutting phases are necessary.
• ⚠️ The leaner you get, the harder it becomes to gain muscle while losing fat at the same time. Recomping is almost impossible for very lean individuals.
• 🎯 When recomping progress slows down, it's better to switch to a dedicated muscle gain or fat loss phase rather than trying to force recomping to work better.

Q & A

What is the main claim discussed in the video?

The main claim is that it is possible to gain muscle and lose fat simultaneously. The video explores why this claim is mostly incorrect for the majority of people, while acknowledging that there are some specific scenarios where it might hold true.

Why is it difficult to gain muscle and lose fat at the same time for most people?

Gaining muscle and losing fat simultaneously is difficult because it requires the body to be in both anabolic (muscle-building) and catabolic (fat-burning) states, which are typically opposing processes. Without specific circumstances, like being a beginner or returning from a long layoff, it’s hard to achieve both efficiently.

Under what circumstances can people gain muscle and lose fat at the same time?

People can gain muscle and lose fat simultaneously if they are beginners to training and dieting, returning from a long layoff, or using special sports supplements. In these cases, their bodies respond more dramatically to changes in diet and training.

What are 'lean gains' and 'recomping' as described in the video?

'Lean gains' refers to gaining mostly or only muscle with minimal fat gain. 'Recomping' refers to gaining muscle and losing fat simultaneously. Both approaches have severe limitations, especially for experienced trainees.

Why is a phased approach of muscle gain and fat loss more effective than recomping?

A phased approach works better because you can focus on being in a hypercaloric state to maximize muscle gain during a bulk phase, and then switch to a caloric deficit to lose fat during a cut phase. This sequential approach is more efficient than trying to do both simultaneously, which results in slower progress.

What are the limitations of relying on 'technical gains' as opposed to 'notable gains'?

'Technical gains' refer to small, barely detectable changes that may be recorded in scientific studies but are not visually noticeable. 'Notable gains' are those that lead to obvious improvements in muscle mass or fat loss. Relying on technical gains leads to slow and unimpressive results, especially for advanced athletes.

Why does recomping work better for beginners?

Beginners experience greater improvements because their bodies are not used to structured training or diet, making them more responsive to changes. For them, recomping can lead to significant muscle gain and fat loss without needing to focus on extreme calorie manipulation.

What happens when recomping stops being effective for someone?

When recomping stops yielding notable results, it’s usually a sign that the person has advanced beyond the beginner stage. At this point, it’s more effective to enter distinct fat loss or muscle gain phases to continue progressing, rather than trying to push recomping further.

What advice does the video give for people who are already lean and want to gain muscle?

For people who are already lean, recomping becomes much more difficult and inefficient. The video suggests that they should focus on a muscle gain phase (bulk) to increase muscle mass more effectively, rather than trying to recomposition.

What analogy is used to explain the inefficiency of recomping compared to a phased approach?

The video uses the analogy of speaking two languages at the same time to explain why recomping is inefficient. Just as speaking both English and Chinese to two different groups of people simultaneously would result in confusion, trying to gain muscle and lose fat at the same time leads to suboptimal results. A phased approach is like speaking one language at a time to get clearer and better results.

Outlines

00:00

💪 The Claim: Can You Gain Muscle and Lose Fat Simultaneously?

Dr. Mike Isrtel begins by introducing the myth that people can easily gain muscle and lose fat simultaneously. He outlines a four-part claim that many believe, such as the possibility of gaining significant muscle without fat gain and avoiding distinct muscle gain and fat loss phases. Isrtel explains that while this belief holds some truth, it is largely incorrect for most people. He introduces the terms 'lean gains' (gaining mostly muscle with no fat) and 'recomping' (gaining muscle while losing fat) and hints at the limitations of both.

05:01

🤔 The Limitations of the Claim: It’s Not What You Think

Isrtel expands on why the claim of recomping and lean gains is flawed, likening it to thinking you're a casino winner—technically possible but not sustainable over time. He argues that while some people may experience simultaneous fat loss and muscle gain, it only happens under specific conditions, such as being new to diet and training, returning after a long layoff, or using performance-enhancing substances. Even then, the results are often slow and barely noticeable.

10:02

⚖️ Technical vs. Notable Gains: What Really Matters

In this paragraph, Isrtel explains the difference between 'technical gains' and 'notable gains.' While recomping may show technical results in studies, such gains are usually so minimal that they're hardly noticeable in real life. He emphasizes that fitness enthusiasts aim for visible, notable progress rather than barely detectable improvements. For advanced athletes, recomping works much less effectively, and relying on it won't lead to substantial muscle gain or fat loss.

15:03

🚫 The Reality of Recomping for Advanced Athletes

Isrtel discusses the harsh reality that for lean and muscular individuals, recomping is ineffective. He argues that gaining muscle while burning fat becomes nearly impossible under restrictive conditions, especially when already at low body fat percentages. In these cases, intentional muscle gain or fat loss phases are far more effective. He suggests that recomping works better for beginners or those returning from a break, but it’s not a reliable strategy for advanced athletes.

📈 Why Distinct Phases Work Best

This section explains why distinct muscle gain and fat loss phases are superior to recomping. Isrtel highlights the anabolic power of a caloric surplus for muscle growth and the fat-burning effects of a caloric deficit. He argues that attempting to combine these processes in recomping leads to slower and less efficient progress. Instead, sequencing dedicated phases of bulking and cutting is a more effective approach, especially for those seeking to maximize muscle growth and fat loss.

🚴 Why Take a Bike When You Have a Car? The Phasic Approach

Using the analogy of biking versus driving, Isrtel illustrates that while recomping may get results, it is slow and inefficient compared to the phasic approach of bulking and cutting. He acknowledges the downsides of weight gain but argues that the results are far superior when you take distinct muscle gain or fat loss phases rather than trying to do both simultaneously. He reinforces that recomping is ideal for beginners but becomes ineffective as you advance.

👶 Recomping: Ideal for Beginners

Isrtel stresses that recomping is highly effective for beginners. With a healthy diet and regular training, beginners can build muscle and lose fat without having to undergo extreme caloric surpluses or deficits. The results can be impressive for months, allowing newcomers to make significant progress without overcomplicating their training or diet. However, once the beginner phase ends, more advanced strategies are required.

📊 Advanced Athletes: When Recomping Stops Working

Here, Isrtel explains that for those returning from a layoff or advancing in their training, recomping eventually slows down and becomes less effective. He advises against trying to reignite recomping efforts and suggests that the next logical step is to either enter a fat loss phase or a muscle gain phase, depending on individual goals. The focus should shift from trying to sustain recomping to more advanced and intentional diet and training methods.

⚖️ Best Practices for Beginners and Advanced Athletes

Isrtel outlines best practices for both beginners and advanced athletes. He advises beginners to stay at maintenance calories for the first 6 to 12 months while building muscle and losing fat simultaneously, but warns that results will eventually plateau. At that point, it’s crucial to decide whether to enter a muscle gain phase or a fat loss phase. Advanced athletes need to recognize when their recomping efforts are no longer producing significant results and switch to more dedicated phases.

🔄 Conclusion: Switch to Intentional Phases When Recomping Slows

In the final paragraph, Isrtel emphasizes that while recomping is beneficial initially, relying on it for too long is counterproductive. Once notable gains slow down, it’s essential to start alternating between muscle gain and fat loss phases. He warns against getting stuck in the 'recomping mindset,' where people expect ongoing progress from a strategy that’s only effective in the short term. The key to long-term success lies in dedicated, intentional phases for muscle gain and fat loss.

Keywords

💡Recomping

Recomping refers to the process of losing fat and gaining muscle simultaneously. In the video, Dr. Mike discusses how this concept is highly appealing to people but is only effective under certain conditions, such as for beginners or individuals returning from a long layoff. He also explains that while recomping works, it is not as efficient as separating muscle gain and fat loss phases for more advanced individuals.

💡Lean gains

Lean gains describe a situation where someone gains muscle without gaining much or any fat. Dr. Mike addresses this as a common fitness goal, especially for those who want to build muscle while staying lean. However, he points out that the potential for lean gains is very limited, particularly for advanced athletes, and that intentional massing phases are more effective for muscle growth.

💡Massing phase

A massing phase is a period where the primary goal is to gain muscle by eating in a caloric surplus. Dr. Mike argues that distinct phases like this, where you focus solely on muscle gain (and accept some fat gain), are much more effective than trying to gain muscle without fat, as seen in recomping or lean gains. Massing phases allow for more pronounced muscle growth.

💡Fat loss phase

A fat loss phase is a period where the focus is on losing fat by eating in a caloric deficit. Dr. Mike contrasts this with the idea of recomping, stating that trying to lose fat while also gaining muscle is inefficient for most people. Instead, it is more effective to have distinct fat loss phases where the sole focus is fat reduction without trying to build significant muscle simultaneously.

💡Caloric surplus

A caloric surplus occurs when a person consumes more calories than their body needs for maintenance. Dr. Mike emphasizes that a surplus is the most powerful anabolic signal for muscle growth, making it essential during a massing phase. He suggests that without a surplus, muscle gain is minimal, and relying solely on recomping or lean gains would severely limit progress.

💡Caloric deficit

A caloric deficit happens when someone consumes fewer calories than their body needs for maintenance, which leads to fat loss. Dr. Mike explains that this is the most powerful fat-burning signal and is critical during a fat loss phase. He argues that trying to lose fat without a significant deficit, as with recomping, results in slower and less noticeable progress.

💡Newbie gains

Newbie gains refer to the rapid muscle and strength gains that beginners experience when they start training. Dr. Mike mentions this as a key reason why beginners can successfully recomp and make noticeable progress in both fat loss and muscle gain, something that becomes much harder as individuals become more advanced in their training.

💡Maintenance calories

Maintenance calories are the number of calories required to maintain current body weight without gaining or losing fat or muscle. Dr. Mike highlights that staying at maintenance can lead to recomping for beginners, but for more experienced individuals, remaining at maintenance becomes less effective over time as progress slows significantly.

💡Anabolic signal

An anabolic signal is a stimulus that promotes muscle growth. Dr. Mike stresses that eating in a caloric surplus provides the strongest anabolic signal for gaining muscle, which is why he recommends focusing on massing phases. He contrasts this with recomping, where the anabolic signal is weaker and progress in muscle gain is much slower.

💡Catabolic signal

A catabolic signal promotes the breakdown of tissue, including fat or muscle. Dr. Mike explains that a caloric deficit creates a strong catabolic signal, which is necessary for fat loss. He points out that trying to balance anabolic and catabolic signals simultaneously (as in recomping) leads to suboptimal results compared to focusing on either fat loss or muscle gain separately.

Highlights

Claim 1: The idea that you can readily gain muscle and lose fat at the same time is often incorrect, though there are some exceptions.

Claim 2: Gaining a large amount of muscle without gaining any fat is much less likely.

Claim 3: You don’t need to go through distinct muscle gain and fat loss phases is mostly incorrect for most people.

Explanation: The idea that muscle gain and fat loss is a linear process without trade-offs is more often false than true.

The term 'lean gains' refers to gaining mostly muscle with little to no fat, while 'recomping' is gaining muscle and losing fat at the same time.

Recomping has severe limitations and is less effective compared to distinct phases of muscle gain or fat loss.

You can gain muscle and lose fat simultaneously in specific scenarios, such as if you are new to structured training or dieting.

Returning to training after a long layoff or using performance-enhancing supplements can lead to simultaneous muscle gain and fat loss.

For advanced athletes, recomping yields only technical gains, which are minimal and often hard to notice.

Technical gains, as seen in studies, are measurable but often so small that they aren't noticeable in everyday life.

Intentional phases of muscle gain and fat loss are more effective than constant recomping, providing more profound results.

At maintenance calories, you throw away the two best tools for muscle gain (caloric surplus) and fat loss (caloric deficit).

Recomping becomes less effective as you become leaner, making it difficult to achieve further muscle gains while losing fat.

Distinct muscle gain and fat loss phases lead to better long-term results, much like how competitive bodybuilders operate.

Beginners benefit from recomping at first, but once progress slows, they should transition to either a fat loss or muscle gain phase.

Transcripts

hey folks dr mike isrtel here for

renaissance periodization

nutrition myths number 10

losing fat while gaining muscle

oh boy we're going to talk about the

claim why it's wrong

some silver linings as to how it could

be right in some cases and then

best practices moving forward here's the

claim

okay it's kind of a four-part claim

with a fifth clarifying part a little

bit more of a technical myth here

claim number one is you can readily gain

muscle and lose fat at the same time

there are ways in which that is true

we'll get into it a bit

claim number two you can gain tons of

muscle with no fat gain at the same time

much less true we'll get into that in a

little bit number three you don't have

to do distinct muscle gain and fat loss

phases

because you can have it all at the same

time in one phase

and getting in shape gaining muscle and

losing fat

isn't a kind of phasic process where you

gain some muscle but you also gain some

fat take some steps back

and then you lose some fat but you're

not gaining a ton of muscle during that

time so it's not taking steps back but

it's kind of a holding pattern until you

lose the fat and then back in it's not

this phasic process of trade-offs

it's an all into results just a linear

process of just get better better better

better better

lose muscle or lose fat and gain muscle

at the same time it just

just keeps going right that's the claim

a lot of folks would like to believe

this and it is

in most instances for for most people

who are most interested in it more

incorrect than it is correct

okay so this is a bit more of a nuanced

one where it's not like biohacking or

it's just straight up bullshit

this has some stuff to it but that's why

we're making this video to dig into that

stuff

and some important terms that we're

going to be using later and just

important ones for you to be aware of

people say lean gains that means

essentially gaining

mostly or all muscle and no fat and when

they say recomping

that's when you gain muscle and lose fat

at the same time

both of those are sort of the claims

here both of them

have severe limitations okay severe

limitations

so here are the reasons this claim the

series of claims

wrong we don't want to see wrong here

but highly highly lacking

more wrong than right decent analogy

here is if your friend

says to you like dude i'm a winner in

the casino like

that's certainly true some of the time

under some circumstances

but under the average circumstances in

the average time it's not true

it is not a dependable thing to think

you're a winner at a casino

over the long term will lose all of your

money that way just the same way

if you think your best efforts are spent

in recomping or lean gaining and you

never pay attention to intentional

massing or fat loss phases

you're not getting the most bang for

your buck most of the time you're eating

less paying for your buck than you could

be

so you can

notably gain lots of muscle and lose

lots of fat

at the same time in a few circumstances

and here they are

one is you're not used to much or any of

diet or training structure

okay you're a noob or you make your diet

and training structure much more

intelligent and much more efficacious

than it previously was so for example

you used to never

time your carbohydrates around workouts

you start doing that you eat one meal a

day now you start eating five

you used to train and sort of kind of be

hypercaloric

um but you know sometimes your calories

are really off sometimes not

now in a recomp you uh just nail your

calories every single time you're

finally eating enough protein

stuff like that these big changes that

like if you start doing more of them

you absolutely can gain muscle and lose

fat at the same time for sure

right another one is you're coming back

to training and die from a long layoff

like if you've been you know covered

messed you up or something you've been

out of dim for three months six months

you absolutely when you start lifting

weights and eating relatively normally

again

at hell or just start lifting weights

you can gain muscle and lose fat notably

like

seriously a lot of impressive results at

the same time absolutely true

if you're dipping into special sports

supplements either for the first time or

taking more of them than usual you

absolutely can

gain muscle and lose fat at the same

time professional bodybuilders do it all

the time but we're not all special

sports supplements so it doesn't exactly

apply to most people

and here there's a distinction we say

notable gains

there are two terms here notable gains

are like

impressive gains that you can reliably

put a stamp on and say i'm comfortable

getting these this is a good rate

technical gains are what are measured in

studies so a lot of people refer to

studies but say see recomping is real

even in advanced athletes

you look at the magnitude of fat loss

and muscle gain

it's detectable in the study but barely

detectable with fine-tuned scientific

instruments

and a huge sample of people in an

individual

applying that you would barely notice a

thing so you could say look dude i'm

recomping

and then you do six months of recomping

if you're advanced then you've already

been doing all the things right

and you can get a dexa or something and

it says you like lost one percent fat

and gained one percent muscle

were you technically successful yes were

you notably successful well literally no

because nobody can tell

you come back to the gym the next day

after getting your dexterity

fellas you know yeah and they're like

what are you doing like just flexing my

one percent more muscle

should be easy to see with my one

percent less fat and they're like

you're an idiot so yeah you did that for

six months and that's what happened

cool technically you made gains i don't

think you're tuning into this channel to

make technical gains

i think you're tuning in to all these

youtube fitness channels to make notable

gains

that's what you want so when someone

tells you recomping works

they're probably right it does work but

it doesn't work nearly as well in most

cases

as intentional muscle gain phases and

intentional fat loss phases

sequence together okay

so here's the deal other than this

these three things where you're not used

to what your diet training structure if

you're coming back to it after a long

layoff

or you're taking special sports

supplements if you're not in one of

those groups people can

you lose muscle sorry can you lose you

can definitely lose muscle and gain fat

at the same time

can you gain muscle and lose fat at the

same time yes but it's

painfully slow and often very tough to

notice

at all and if you are relatively lean

it becomes almost impossible except for

incredibly rare cases

if your sub 10 fat as a male or sub 18

fat as a female

in order to grow muscle under such

restricted conditions your body has to

burn fat

it's gotta be if you're growing muscle

but you're not gaining weight because

you're recomping you're not in a surplus

growing muscle no weight gain you have

to burn a concomitant amount of fat

for you to have the sheer anabolic drive

to gain muscle

while at the same time having the

catabolic drive to burn

fat and resist the catabolic impetus

of getting that lean because you guys

know the leaner you get the more your

body fights against you

the more difficult it makes fat loss and

the tougher it makes muscle retention

but you're not even trying to retain

muscle here you're trying to gain it

while you're trying to get even leaner

can you imagine someone

being at six percent body fat getting

down to three percent fat

while increasing their muscle three

percent that's insane it just

doesn't happen under almost any under

almost any circumstances

so it's just not reliable so if you're

already lean

recomping is just not a bet at all

okay lean gains maybe but barely

recomping is pretty much out of the

window if you're already lean and

muscular

if you're not lean and muscular yeah it

has a bit more play but it's still

probably not the best option

here's the thing what is the alternative

distinct

muscle gain and fat loss phases are much

better if you do one and then you do the

other

in combination you can get much further

sequencing them

than just trying to do lean gains or

recomping the entire time why

because the most profound thing other

than resistance training and eating

protein

on how much muscle you gain isn't a

hypercaloric condition

if you eat excess calories by just a

little it is unbelievably anabolic

and the most profound fat catabolic

signal

is a caloric deficit if you create a

caloric deficit

then it's the thing that burns fat it's

the most powerful fat burning machine

if you're at maintenance you get to use

zero of them you literally throw away

your two best weapons not a good idea

not a good idea at all you want to use

your best weapons

at first to gain muscle or to lose fat

and then after you switch the script and

do it again

stupid analogy but if you are trying to

speak

english and chinese to a group of

americans into a group of chinese people

none of whom speak the other language

is it a good idea for you to speak in

both languages at the same time

something will be understood but a lot

will be missing why don't you just be

like

hold up chinese people and you speak to

the americans blah blah blah

they're like okay you get it and then

you speak in chinese the chinese people

are like

got it best of both worlds not to be

mixed there's a lot of other things like

that you don't mix

you don't mix spaghetti and cake even

though they're both good there's a

timing there's a sequence element there

it's much better

to do distinct fat loss phases and

distinct muscle gain phases

sequencing them once you get lean you

put upon some muscle and some fat

once you put on some muscle and some fat

you need another fat loss face to get

rid of the fat

boop so on and so forth then you get big

and you get lean that's how pretty much

[Music]

almost every if not every competitive

large bodybuilder has done

that's the most muscular lean people in

the world do exactly and only that

right for good reason because it works

trying

to look for lean gains where you gain

only muscle and no fat

severely severely restricting yourself

in order to do that or recomping

to the moon is a fool's errand because

even if it works

marginally your margins could be higher

if you did it another way

that's like saying to yourself like if i

want to visit my friend

in a city that's 50 miles away i can

take a bicycle because that false

no you can probably ride a bicycle for

50 miles if your normal decent shape

will be

super fucking hard it'll take you

forever and you'll be super tired

afterwards

but you can get there but if you also

have a car

why not take the car and someone could

say well there's got all these other

downsides and for sure it does like you

know it's uncomfortable to gain

a lot of weight and a little bit of fat

sure of course that's the downside but

it's just more effective so if you're

looking for pure effect

the phasic approach is better than

trying to lean gains and trying to do

recomping

all the time however

lean gaining and recomping absolutely

work well for beginners especially

okay and it's often good to just get

beginners and do a pretty healthy diet

and regular weight training because you

don't want to inundate them with a

hypochlorous diet or hypercaloric diet

like it's weird to get a healthy diet

and start stuffing yourself

or healthy diet and get really

restrictive you just want beginners to

start with like a good healthy muscle

building diet plenty of protein plenty

of energy

regular meals and then teach them how to

lift weights and then you just don't

even look at their body weight

right and they normally just either in a

slight surplus light deficit or just on

average just keep

maintenance level intake and then they

build tons of muscle and lose tons of

fat for months and months and months

and then once you

uh you know they don't need to press

these powerful levers

but also they can't to some extent or

less likely to because it takes a lot of

cognitive bandwidth right

like it's tough enough to learn how to

train and make that a habit it's tough

enough to learn how to diet make that

happen

you don't want to push any other pedals

on like force-feeding them

or on dieting them too hard you just

start them out

with the recomposition approach which

for them works powerfully enough to be

very notable

and you can just let them coast

eventually you'll have to take them to

the next best thing

but they do gain excellent result uh

results for months

with without a whole lot of effort which

is awesome especially for the beginners

that can't yet be expected to put out a

crazy amount of effort now

in the same boat if you're coming back

to diet or training

either one or both from a long layoff of

either one or both like for example if

you

have been training but your diet's just

been total shit and you start eating

really well

you can also recomp anderling gain no

problem

and you just have to be aware enough to

realize

when the process of recomping has slowed

and you don't want to try to get into a

situation where you try to

boost your recomping abilities again

people will say like man

i was just eating at maintenance i

cleaned up my diet i was training really

hard

i gained a ton of muscle a ton of

strength lost a bunch of fat in the

first six months

in the last two months it's month eight

now it's really like i can't tell if

i've gained muscle or lost fat i

think i have maybe a little bit

the question to ask then is not okay how

do i like relight the fire of recomp

that's not the question the question to

ask is what should i do next a fat loss

phase or a muscle gain phase

you guys with me on that like that's the

next step for advanced athletes that

need the most

serious form of intervention so

what is the most serious form of

dimension what are these best practices

if you're a beginner to diet under

training just starting and being body

weight stable for months is totally fine

getting into the rhythm of eating

getting into the rhythm of training

you'll get

really amazing results for sure it works

for these folks

and no it's not your fastest fat loss

like look if someone is a hollywood star

and they come to you and they're like

six months to get

shredded for this roll you're not going

to recomp them that's insane you're

going to put them right into a deficit

because they said shredded

you will lose fat faster at a deficit

period there's no way to do it

as fast in maintenance as it is in the

deficit if they said to you

hey i gotta have this role where i have

to be and they're pretty lean to start

they say i have to be much bigger uh and

more muscular like it's okay if i'm not

super lean but i have to be jacked

in six months you're not gonna keep them

at maintenance that's insane like

someone says like hey willem dafoe you

got to be jacked and you keep my

maintenance for six months

like we said jacked he weighs 150 pounds

and he's like six months the hell is

going on

right at least 180 or something you have

to introduce a hyper caloric condition

you have to eat at a surplus

so beginners who start and stay at a

body weight level that's the same at

maintenance

they don't get their best possible

results those would come if they started

the fluctuations but

the bandwidth thing and it's totally

fine it does work really well for them

once you've gone either coming back into

training or dieting

or as a pure beginner of about 6 to 12

months at maintenance calories

usually that's when the results start to

peter out a little bit now you will

still make gains for years

in recomp but there's just going to be

technical gains and not notable gains

they're going to be very very slow and

painful

so once you get there you can begin

either a fat loss phase

or a muscle gain phase based on

whichever you want first

and we're going to have other videos

coming out later about which one you

should pick depending on what

all these other details but the end of

the day it doesn't matter a ton

i'll give you the tldr if you're pretty

over fat

and you don't like how you look because

you have too much body fat

you just need to cut and that's probably

the best thing once

you are relatively lean and you're at

least comfortable like i'm pretty lean

then you can bulk but if you get after

recomping if you're like pretty lean

you could just go right into bulk that's

the short answer

this way by doing the maintenance

recomp first and then once that process

essentially runs its course as far as

having notable yield and switches to

just technical yield

then you go into intentional massing or

cutting or intentional fat loss or

muscle gain phase

and that way you get excellent results

you get the easy gains when you're

prying for them you don't have to

manipulate your diet like crazy stuff

yourself or starve yourself

and you're switching to more effective

intentional

weight gain or loss when you can't get

much out of her comping anymore which is

just intelligent right like

again the question to ask when recomping

doesn't work well for you anymore isn't

what can i do to make recomping work

better it's what can i do

to gain more muscle and lose more fat

because that's what you really want and

the answer there is probably dedicated

phases

and it gives you the easy gains but it

also prevents you from hitting your head

against

the lean gains wall for too long too

many people get

i don't want to say addicted to get the

expectation

that their noob recomp is just something

that's going to keep happening

and they're going to say you know i

started at 170 pounds i started lifting

weights

i got 12 months later i was 170 and i

had like abs and my muscles were popping

out

i just want more of that to keep coming

not a good idea

it won't and if it hasn't there really

are no levers to pull

and now at this point you need to either

lose fat

or gain weight lose fat gain muscle etc

they need to be separate phases

that's how you put your best foot

forward folks thanks for tuning in give

it some thought

let me know what you think in the

comments below have a good one

you